Nicolas Carr, an influential author and thinker on culture and technology. His writing includes The Shallows (NY Times bestseller), The Big Switch, Does IT Matter, and The Glass Cage. Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. www.nicholascarr.com

Johanna Drucker, professor of Design Media Arts at UCLA whose exemplary record of scholarship and innovation includes works such as SpecLab: Digital Aesthetics and Speculative Computing, Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide, and especially, Graphesis: Visual Forms of Knowledge Production, regarded by many as seminal and ground breaking works that span the bridges between information studies, media studies and design/visual studies.

Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver) is proud to host the 16th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association. MSU Denver is Colorado’s land grant university and educates the most diverse student body of any institution in the state. The University is an epicenter for urban impact, transforming lives, communities and higher education. It is with this perspective of dynamic diversity, transformation, and community engagement that we aim to explore the concept of “Kaleidoscope of Media and Community” as the convention theme.
The term “kaleidoscope” means the observation of beautiful forms. When we look through a kaleidoscope, we see a multitude of shapes, colors, and textures combine to create beautiful patterns. . With every turn of the kaleidoscope, the patterns shift and change, yet still combine to create a whole image. As abolitionist and clergyman Henry Ward Beecher said, “Our days are a kaleidoscope. Every instant a change takes place in the contents. New harmonies, new contrasts, new combinations of every sort. The most familiar people stand each moment in some new relation to each other, to their work, to surrounding objects. The most tranquil house, with the most serene inhabitants, living upon the utmost regularity of system, is yet exemplifying infinite diversities.” This conference looks at the recursive relationships of media and community as a pattern of continuously shifting, adapting parts combining in an infinite array of possibilities within mediated environments.

The field of Media Ecology is multi-disciplinary in nature, bringing together a broad collection of specialties, perspectives and expertise. This year’s theme of community offers the possibility to think about communities as part of a media’s ecology and its technologies. Community opens our discourse to human interaction that is face-to-face, urban, rural, central, remote, online, hybrid, historical, fictional, human, animal, functional, dysfunctional, young, old, diverse, educated, oral, literate, digital and linked to the technology and media in its environment.
The 16th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association invites papers, panels, workshop sessions, short film and video works, and creative projects that explore the convention theme. Submissions on any topic of interest to Media Ecology are also encouraged. Authors who want their papers considered for the Top Paper or Top Student Paper award must indicate this on their submissions. All submissions will be acknowledged.

The convention site at MSU Denver is located in the heart of downtown Denver on the Auraria Campus. There is a wide range of hotels, restaurants, and entertainment options within easy walking or biking distance from campus. Rental bicycles are readily available through the city’s program. Discounted rooms will be available at our state of the art on-campus, student-run hotel, the SpringHill Suites at Marriott. An excursion to the mountains is planned for Friday evening. Additional information about lodging, logistics, and events will be forthcoming.

The 16th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association invites papers, panels, workshop sessions, short film and video works,
and creative projects that explore the convention theme. Submissions on any topic of interest to Media Ecology are also encouraged.
Authors who want their papers considered for the Top Paper or Top Student Paper award must indicate this on their submissions. All
submissions will be acknowledged.

The convention site at MSU Denver is located in the heart of downtown Denver on the Auraria Campus. There is a wide range of hotels, restaurants, and entertainment options within easy walking or biking distance from campus. Rental bicycles are readily available through the city’s program. Discounted rooms will be available at our state of the art on-campus, student-run hotel, the SpringHill Suites at Marriott. An excursion to the mountains is planned for Friday evening. Additional information about lodging, logistics, and events will be forthcoming.

Guidelines for Submission (Deadline: March 31, 2015)

For Manuscripts (for MEA award submissions):
1. Manuscripts should be 4,000-6,000 words (approximately 15 to 25 double-spaced pages).
2. Include a cover page (or e-submission page) with your academic or professional affiliation and other contact information.
3. Include a 150 word abstract, with the title. Use APA, MLA, or Chicago style.

For Paper and Panel Proposals:
1. Include title, abstract, and contact information with your proposal.
2. Outline, as relevant, how your paper or panel will fit with the convention theme.